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Church & State

Calif. Teacher’s Claims About Declaration Ban Are Dubious, Says AU

January2005People & Events

A California public school teacher’s claim that he has been denied
the right to teach about the Declaration of Independence in the classroom because
it contains a reference to the “Creator” is dubious, says Americans
United.

Lawyers at Americans United have read the legal complaint filed by Steven
Williams, a fifth-grade instructor at Stevens Creek Elementary School in Cupertino,
and say it does not support the claims his legal team has made in the media.

The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), whose founders include right-wing religious
broadcasters such as James Dobson and D. James Kennedy, issued a press release
on Dec. 12 under the headline, “Declaration of Independence Banned From
Classroom.” The release asserts that Principal Patricia Vidmar and other
school officials have targeted Williams because he is an “orthodox Christian.”

In fact, critics say Williams was clearly trying to use his classroom for
fundamentalist Christian proselytism. For more than a year, parents have complained
to school officials that Williams has been using a slew of documents to push
his religion at their children.

The New York Times and San FranciscoChronicle quoted
several parents who were upset over Williams’ efforts to indoctrinate
their children. They noted that Williams has provided his fifth-graders with
supplemental material to buttress his beliefs about the role of Christianity
in American history. That material, in addition to the Declaration of Independence,
consisted of a variety of historical and other documents that mention God or
Christianity.

One handout was called “What Great Leaders Have Said About the Bible.” It
includes alleged quotes from nine U.S. presidents and ends with a quote from
Jesus Christ, which says, “It is written, man shall not live by bread
alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

Williams also expected his fifth-grade class to read a lengthy essay by Jean-Jacques
Burlamaqui, an 18th-century Swiss jurist who, according to the Columbia
Encyclopedia, “attempted to demonstrate the reality of natural law
by tracing its origin in God’s rule and in human reason and moral instinct.”

Parents began complaining to school officials that Williams was going beyond
teaching about religion and was proselytizing their students.

“My daughter came home one day and said, ‘Mr. Williams talks
about Jesus 100 times a day,’” Mike Zimmers told the Chronicle.

Parent Dorothy Pickler told the newspaper that she contacted school officials
and requested that her fifth-grader not be subjected to Williams.

“Because what he’s doing isn’t teaching history,” she
said. “If you were teaching at a church school, that would be great.
But he isn’t.”

Armineh Noravian, whose son was in Williams’ class last year, was blunt,
telling TheNew York Sun, “That’s a bunch of baloney
this guy is saying.” Noravian said her son and others complained that
Williams would bring up his Christianity almost daily.

“There are a lot of kids who would come home and tell their parents,
they’re sick and tired of hearing about this guy’s religion,” Noravian
said.

Williams has taken to right-wing radio and cable news opinion shows, such
as Fox News Channel’s “Hannity & Colmes” and Pat Robertson’s “700
Club,” to press his case. On the Fox program, Williams admitted that
the claim that the Declaration of Independence has been banned from his classroom
is “a little bit of a stretch.”

Nevertheless, the inflammatory allegations have garnered lots of attention
and spurred hysterical reaction from people nationwide who, according to newspaper
accounts, have bombarded the elementary school with hateful threats and wildly
uninformed declarations. A Cu­pertino public school official told the Chronicle that
the district has received e-mails stating, “All of you in the school
district can burn in hell.”

School officials aren’t backing down. They released a statement that
they were bound “to uphold the First Amendment which mandates separation
between church and state,” which includes ensuring that teachers with
religious agendas, such as Williams, not subject captive audiences to preaching.

District spokesman Jeffrey Nishihara told the Chronicle, “The
district has not stopped teaching about the Declaration of Independence.”